Nothing better
by CrimsonSnowScarletFate
Summary: Everything starts with a punch. -Hayama/FemMiyaji-


**Disclaimer: **If I owned Kuroko no Basket, the world could come to an end.

**Note: **English isn't my born language. And the name Kiyomi by Dream of the Future. And yes, this story is un-betaed.

**Warning: **Gender-swap, AU/AR?, OOC (perhaps), head-canon, post-canon

**Pairing: **Hayama Kotarou/Female Miyaji Kiyoshi.

Hope you enjoy it.

* * *

He tells everyone who's willing to listen to him (mostly Nebuya) that he falls in love with a girl at the first sight. But it isn't as romantic as everyone has thought.

Because she has punched his stomach, hard.

It's his first day at junior high school, and he is twelve years old, cheerful and friendly and loves basketball. He walks to the basketball club, ignore the crowd, and some whiners about not knowing which club to choose.

That's when he hears it.

The muffled, distinct sounds of a scuffle and voice laced with determination. Curiously, he turns slightly, to hear what's going on.

Much to his surprise, Kotarou finds one of the voices to be feminine.

"I will be a PLAYER!"

The voice is unmistakably furious.

"Girls can't be players." Another voice, older, male, speaks. "The best you can do is being a manager. Besides, you're too small."

"What did you say, you bast…" She is cut off and the sound of body hitting the ground reaches him. She has been pushed.

And Kotarou really doesn't like the idea of a girl being mistreated. So, he interferes.

"You heard what I say, girlie." The older boy hisses. Kotarou hears the girl push herself off the ground, shaking the dust of her uniform.

"My name is not girlie." She snarls and for a second, Kotarou thinks he should let it be since the girl seems capable of handling herself. Then he shakes his head violently. She's a girl, who obviously stands no chance against the members of the basketball club, who is all tall and well-trained.

"Don't care what your name is, just girl aren't supposed to play in the court."

"There's the national Japanese female basketball team."

"But none of them is as small as you." The senior growls at her and Kotarou chooses the moment to step in. (He'd hoped that the girl could find his action heroic.)

"No, you're wrong, senpai." He states.

"Oh, so you agree with that brat over there?"

"No." Kotarou shakes his head, again ignores the fact that he is being sneered at. "I'm saying that woman are incapable of doing it. They're just supporter."

He nods to himself, praising that he has done a very good job to get the girl out of trouble. And although the national team is awesome, she's just a junior school girl who should play with girls, gossips about boys and other things. There's a stunned silence afterwards, and he considers it as a cue to take his leave. He's done.

Kotarou turns, heading to the basketball club's direction.

And…..

"YOU SEXIST BASTARD!"

A fist connects with his stomach, sending him flying literally (he realized dazedly), slamming into the wall behind with a loud THUD. He holds his stomach, grimaces in pain and looks up to his assaulter.

Score, she's pretty.

She's his age, perhaps about a year older, with blonde hair pulled up into a bun on her head, dark eyes cold and glaring at him with the most loathing and fury that he has ever seen (yes, scarier than his mother's.) At least the senior is right, she's small.

Oh, she's rolling up her sleeves, revealing the beginning of slender muscles on her upper arm. And she's walking towards him, yell at him with the most venomous voice that Kotarou has ever heard:

"WHO do you think YOU are? HOW DARE YOU! I've WORKED HARD and YOU MORON have no rights to tell me WHAT I HAVE TO DO! IF I WANT TO JOIN, NO ONE CAN STOP ME! USE THAT SMALL BRAIN OF YOUR TO REMEMBER THAT, YOU BRAT!" She stops for a moment to breath, before shouting at him again. "AND to prove YOU'RE WRONG, I'll be an EXCELLENT BASKETBALL PLAYER! THEN I'll RUB IT TO YOUR FACE! YOU STUPID, SEXIST PIG!"

Ok…

Just what is wrong with his words? He'd helped her to get out of trouble.

"AND YOU'll HAVE TO KNEEL IN FRONT OF ME AND BEG FOR MY FORGIVENESS!"

Scratch, it's not important. He's busy taking her in, beautiful, breathing and stunning. For a moment, Kotarou does forget how to breath.

His stomach is still in pain even after he has get home. And when his mother asks him what has happened, he replies without any hesitation.

"I've found my bride."

(Still, he doesn't understand why his mother suddenly smacks him.)

(And Kotarou supposes that he shouldn't be surprised to see her with the opponent teams, head holds high and orders and encourages her juniors by her so-call threatening way.)

_("I don't know your type is older girls._

"_Shut up, Nebuya."_

"_Stop that, you're staring at her again.") _

* * *

Miyaji Kiyomi will kill anyone who dares mention the day she came to the junior basketball club, just to be rejected repeatedly. (Look, Shutoku team doesn't even say anything when she steps in. They accept her without insults and questions.)

And she doesn't think that brat, Hayama Kotarou or something, one of Crownless Generals, as someone who deserves her attention more than an arrogant prat.

Her first impression of him is that she's going to kill him, drag him out of hell and kill him again, slowly and painfully.

He insults her, insults every female players that she has admired for her life, insults her hard work, her effort.

So she punches him as hard as possible. She attempts to break his nose, but punching the stomach isn't too bad, pausing a split second to smirk before screaming at him and throwing a bunch of insults that she has learnt or overheard and promises to be the best to make him kneel before her like a pathetic jerk.

It's a second after she walks away in fury, she realizes that she has hit a freshman.

But she doesn't give a damn. The prat deserves it. He needs to respect his senior.

And afterwards, she refuses to speak to him, opting to turn away and leave whenever their eyes meet.

At the Winter Cup, she make no sign of acknowledging him. Even though she knows they'll lose to Rakuzan, she still shouts at Midorima and Takao to get up. It's her pride, Shutoku's pride, to prove that brat wrong.

After Rakuzan, she goes to the park, standing at the empty court with a ball in her arms. She looks at it, using all her willpower to stop herself from crying. She will be retiring now.

She throws the ball, which goes into the hoop easily.

Losing is really, really painful.

As she shots the ball for the eighteenth time in a row, a voice freezes her in her tracks.

"You've won. About proving me wrong."

She grinds her teeth in fury. And now that prat comes to laugh at her face! Where are those pineapple when she needs them? Spinning on her heel to face him, she throws the ball with frightening accuracy at his face. He catches it with ease.

"Heck, it hurts my hand to catch it."

"That's good to hear." She says, turning on her heels. She has no time for him.

"You're not going to continue?" Great, he's following her.

"With you here to laugh at me? No thanks."

"I will never laugh at you."

She scoffs.

"It's too hilarious that I can't laugh."

"Honestly, Miyaji…"

"Senpai."

"Let me finish, can you?" He says awkwardly, and she narrows her eyes. What's with him? They barely know each other. (She doesn't know it, but he, sort of, is her stalker in junior school.) and their most memorable encounter is the match between Shutoku and Rakuzan. Taking her silence as a cue to continue, he rubs the back of his head, starts. "I'm sorry."

She stares at him. That guy is acting out of character, and she isn't good at it, not a bit.

"Pardon me?"

"For what I said years ago. It was wrong, and I guess you have been a good player. See, you're Shutoku's regular, and…"

She pauses a second, then…

"Apology accepted." And Kiyomi continues walking away, not looking back to see if he's following her.

She really doesn't care. (She tells herself that, repeatedly.)

But in the match between Shutoku and Kaijou, she catches him watching her.

In her second years at college, he runs into her.

Two days later, he declares to the whole college that he needs her as his tutor. She doesn't have a choice, especially when he looks every discouraged at her initial refusal.

Weeks later, she scolds him for sleeping in the library, catching a cold in the process.

With a patience she doesn't know she has, she finds herself drawn to him.

He makes her cry.

He makes her laugh.

She's articulate and tongue-tied around him.

Miyaji doesn't know how it starts, but the thought of relationship dawns on her.

She laughs at herself for thinking of such crazy thoughts. Honestly, he's a brat. But the thought is persistent and its irritates her to no end. She almost breaks his arm when that prat just likes to throw his arms around her shoulder like they're the best of friends. (Perhaps they are. But in that case, she can't risk anything.)

Worse, she even dreams of him, looking at her, smiling at her, hugging her so tightly.

He asks her if she should go to the hospital, and Kiyomi realizes that her face is burning.

"Kiyomi?"

She really doesn't bother to tell him to add "-senpai" because he's placed his hands on her shoulder, looking at her with concern, and she suddenly realizes, that perhaps, the idea isn't crazy at all.

But…

She can't risk losing their friendship.

She makes some lame excuse to leave, saying that she has some meeting with their friends. (She does realize that she doesn't have any friends but him), barely understanding that her legs are suddenly weak and her mind is hazy and it will takes her hours to recover –

And then, he's kissing her.

He yanks her back by an arm, traps her in a vice-grip, whispers in her ears. ("You're my goddess, you know that?"). And then his mouth is on hers, and all she can feel later is fire. There is an edge of urgency about his kiss, a feeling of hunger, desperation, yet strangle gentle. She's pressing herself into him on instinct, and _damn, _it just feels so good, so right. He whispers endlessly "I love you, I love you" on her lips until it feels like hers are doing the same thing, uttering the same confession.

And then she realizes she's making out with Hayama Kotarou in cafeteria.

In all honestly, she doesn't care.

_("Remember when you tell me that I will have to kneel in front of you?"_

"_So?"_

"_Recently, I've been thinking that I should do that." _

"_You don't mean that, do you?" _

"_It will make you my bride." _

"_God, you're annoying.")_

* * *

**Remember to give my review buttom a hug. **

**Lyra. **


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